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Resort Suggestions - Mayrhofen, St Anton?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Having just returned from a great week in Saalbach I am trying to stave off post holiday blues with research into next year's destination.

As a group, we love Austria, for the village charm, apres ski and cost! We all want a good intermediate area - long red runs with around 200km of piste, a maximum of a 2 hour transfer, tree lined skiing option, all on-piste. We've been to Kitzbuhel, Soll x 2 and Saalbach. I've also been to Gstaad, Zell am Zee and Alagna so would rule all those out.

Can anyone advise on Mayrhofen? St Anton seems very expensive so may have to rule that out. We'd also consider Switzerland. I've never skied France and wasn't too keen on Italy. HELP!
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hayley t wrote:
wasn't too keen on Italy
, neither was I, untill I went. It's much better than you think. Don't rule it out.
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Marc, I went to Alagna a few years ago. The resort was dire and the skiing wasn't much better - sheet ice. Its put me off Italy forever!
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hayley t, Mayrhofen has got some great skiing, I was there myself this last January, however there is only one run ,on the Ahorn, that allows you to ski to the resort and snow cover is unreliable for this run, there is also an almighty scrum to get on the Penken Gondola every morning between 0930 and 1000 but if you don't mind all that then there is some great skiing on offer here.

If snow cover is iffy, the Hintertux Glacier is only a 15 minute bus ride away.
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The lack of resort runs does put me off Richard. Are the bus services between resorts reliable as I noticed that you could ski down to the next resort along the valley? Also any hotel recommendations?
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You won't get much Alpine charm in St Anton. Lot of skiing, 'though.

Courmayeur is very charming for a proper town ('though not Austrian), but may not be large enough.
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hayley t, we went to Mayrhofen last year & I would say it really depends on your group's level of skiing. We were a pretty mixed bag of advanced/intermediate boarders & skiers - it was fine for me but there was a lack of more challenging runs for some. Having said that, the bus to the glacier at Hintertux was well worth the trip, with more difficult runs there - the bus services were very regular & convenient & we also went down the valley to Zell am Ziller. Certainly enough skiing to keep you occupied for the week & you do get used to not being able to ski from the door!

We stayed in a fab hotel, Manni's Sporthotel, which has a swimming pool on the roof, half outdoors/half indoors. Food was superb & good bar with a very nice barman Very Happy . We went mid-March last year & from what I can remember cost about £430 half-board, which for a 4 star isn't bad. It's in all the brochures though.

I would say not so much village charm as town charm but then there are plenty of bars & shops....
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Thanks Cathy, that's the hotel that caught my eye! It sounds good so far. I think the skiing will be suitable for us. We like the occasional black run but most of us like tearing down reds.
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Disclaimer: I haven't been to either resort. However, from what I hear St. Anton isn't very kind to intermediates. So staying away from it is probably a good idea even if you do get a good deal.
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hayley t, Off topic, but I've just got back from Soll. What a fab time we all had. The skiing was great and I barely explored the whole area.
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Paul, Soll is a great resort. Brilliant value for money and an extensive ski area. We went two years running we enjoyed it so much.
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hayley t, the only downside to Manni's is a bit of walk to the Penken gondola - the Strass Hotel is right next to the gondola which is very handy & right above the Ice Bar - even handier Laughing Laughing but I don't know what it's like.

The sauna room at Mannis is also very good, although i didn't actually venture in Embarassed , some of our group did Shocked
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hayley t, Mayrhofen's good fun for tearing down reds, as Cathy syas there are not many blacks. Its an easy bus ride up to Hintertux and we has a good couple of days taking the train (about 5 mins) down to Zell am Ziller and round the back to Gerlos. You can ski a different area every day if you want. Most of the Hotels are pretty good, we stayed in the Neuhaus lat time we were there and that was great, although a bit stange taking the tunnel under the road to our room!
i don't know about St Anton but i can recommend Badgastein, lots of red runs and most of them are long,long,long, between 5 and 7.9km. Like Mayrhofen you can ski different areas, we used taxi's, buses and the train to get about, good fun. The centre of town is untypically for an Austria ski resort as it has a large conference trade and it is also a spar town so you don't see many skiers wandering about. More like a ski resort at the top of the village up by the lifts. the town itself is on quite a steep hill so location is important. We stayed in the centre in the Elisabethpark, good food and great pool, quite a way from the lifts but it had a courtesy bus to take you up in the morning and it would pick you up at the end of the day, brilliant. Plenty of bars in the town and the top end is pretty lively but it does involve some walking if you stay in the centre. Casino was top class, it saw quite a bit of action from our party as it was across the road from the hotel.
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Oops, forgot to mention hayley t, that Bad has some really good eating huts in all sectors. I'm off to Saalbach myself on 20th March, three two plankers and 2 darksiders, can't wait Very Happy
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Thanks scraggsy. I was looking into Bad Gastein. What is the difference between BG and Badhofgastein? The area seems a bit of an unknown but the piste map looks great. Is there much in the way of oompa loompa typical Austrian apres ski or is it more civilised? Exclamation

Saalbach is brilliant. I recommend the Hinterglemm end of the valley for the best red runs. We stayed at the Bauer - excellent.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Hayley t, Bad Hof is more like a typical Austrian resort, although the main lift up a funiclar railway to mid station follwed by cable car is slightly out of town. Not sure about the night life there but i think its fairly quiet. Bad is at the end of the valley and the village is in a horseshoe with a big waterfall running the the centre which is impressive. As i said the top end of the village up by the stubnerkogel lifts is where most of the apres ski action is, a couple of very busy Sweedish dominated bars. Later on plenty of fairly decent bars, no dancing on tables, busy but a bit more civilised. i think the resort is a bit unknown because only a couple of tour companies go there, Crystal and Inghams plus Ski Miguel have a Chalet Hotel where we went for a beer and which looked OK. One of our group was the resort observer for the Where to ski and Snowboard guide so there should be a fairly detailed report in the 2005 edition which comes out later in the year. I've skied quite a lot in Austria and i can certainly recommend this area, if the snow is good then the red run skiing is superb, mid range to tougher reds mainly and all fairly long, definately thigh burn at the bottom.
Looking forward to Saalbach, been before, its an excellent resort. I think we are staying near the new gondola. Very Happy
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Sportworld Amade (Flauchau, Wagrain, St Johan im Pongau etc) maybe Sölden or Ischgl if you want less village charm but more Apres Ski. Obertauern is a bit smaller than what you are looking for but might fit the bill.

http://www.born2ski.com/snowcountry.asp?CountryID=4
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Thanks Scraggsy and DB.

DB , any views on Mayrhofen as that is the front runner at the moment?
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Hayley - I've just got back from a first ever trip to St Anton, and would thoroughly recommend it for upper intermediates. True, the skiing can be challenging (and so can the apres Wink), but there is also plenty of easier cruising around if you start to get frustrated by some of the tougher stuff. Compared with many other Austrian resorts, access to the slopes is very convenient and the snow cover is guaranteed.

As well as St Anton 'proper', there's also the Rendl area (or the Beach as I believe the locals call it, as it gets so much sun) which is considerably more forgiving and where all the slopes are well groomed and usually empty. And don't forget that just a twenty minute bus ride up the valley you've also got Lech and Zurs, which are both covered on your lift pass - these resorts have a completely different feel to St Anton, and have some stunning scenerey and some really easy, confidence boosting skiing.

Plenty of tree-lined skiing on lower slopes (funnily enough!), and only one and a quarter hour transfer from Innsbruck. Although accommodation in St Anton may be priced slightly above the Austrian average, I didn't get the impression that food and drink were particularly extortionate.

The only potential downside is that St Anton does have a lot of Brits, specifically a lot of Brits who think they are really cool because they are 'doing' St Anton.

I don't know Mayrhofen, but I believe that it has a very dodgy snow record due to its extremely low altitude (630 metres).

If you can find a deal at the right price (and there are plenty out there), I would really suggest giving a St Anton a go.
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hayley t,

Haven't skied Mayerhofen but have skied nearby Hintertux a few times.

http://www.born2ski.com/guidereport.asp?ResortID=29&ResortName=Mayrhofen

http://www.goski.com/rau/mayerhof.htm

The bottom lifts at Mayerhofen are very low but the Zillertal area (on the superski pass inc glacier ca 183 Euro for 7 days - 170 Euro without glacier, but it's well worth the extra 13 euros) has ca 600km of runs when fully open and goes up to 3250m. On a bad snow year at least you would get to ski the glacier although it is a long bus ride away and would probably be very crowded under these conditions. As always paying a bit more but being near a lift station or bus stop saves you carrying your skis too far with an Apres ski hangover in the morning snowHead so look at that too.

http://www.zillertal.at/en/zillertal_winter.html

St Anton is the resort in Austria but it's not the cheapest of places. If you want village charm but less challenging slopes then nearby Lech (just a bus ride away from St Anton) is good (as Dave Burt says). St Anton might be the resort to do once your group have improved in a few years, but look at the thread about where people have skied (in the resorts section I think), many have skied St Anton numerous times for the reasons you will see if/when you get there.
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Opps double post Embarassed


Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 10-03-04 18:03; edited 2 times in total
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Thank you DB and Dave Burt. Plenty to think about!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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Dave Burt wrote:
I don't know Mayrhofen, but I believe that it has a very dodgy snow record due to its extremely low altitude (630 metres).


From what I can remember (and this is from memory!), the altitude of 630 metres is for Mayrhofen town itself rather than the pistes - you have to go up the Penken gondola to the ski slopes which start at about 1800 metres. When we were there last year the snow was fine and it was a poorish year for them
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Cathy,

Your memory serves you right. Generally 1800m should be pretty safe for snow.
http://www.alpineskimaps.com/htm/austria/mayrhofen/winmap.htm

I remember driving through a few of the towns in the Zillertal valley one summer. Some towns had lifts right in the middle up to the slopes, as Mayerhofen has. Mayerhofen looks to be the sort of place that if you get fed up skiing in one area you can just jump on a bus and ski another one up the valley.

Here are a few of the other areas
http://www.bergfex.at/koenigsleiten/panorama/?mode=xl
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Thanks DB, the piste maps are excellent. Does the second map show alternative ski areas further along the valley? The number of long red runs looks just right for us.
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Hayley t,

Yes thats right.

Here are the ski areas on the Zillertal super ski pass ..............

> Fügen - Skigebiet Spieljoch
> Fügenberg - Skilifte Hochfügen
> Kaltenbach - Skizentrum Hochzillertal
> Zell am Ziller – Zillertal Arena
> Gerlos – Zillertal Arena
> Wald-Königsleiten – Zillertal Arena
> Hippach/Schwendau - Horberg/Penken
> Mayrhofen – Penken/Ahorn (Ski-Zillertal3000)
> Finkenberg - Penken (Ski-Zillertal3000)
> Tux -Vorderlanersbach - Rastkogel (Ski-Zillertal3000)
> Tux-Lanersbach - Eggalm (Ski-Zillertal3000)
> Hintertux - Hintertuxer Gletscher

Here are the timetables for the ski buses (sorry in german but I can translate a few words / phrases for you if you wish)
http://www.zillertal.at/en/anreise_fahrplaene.html

The diagram in the last link shows just how well placed Mayrhofen is on the bus routes .......
http://www.zillertal.at/bilder/upload/spinne%20und%20routen.pdf

Some livecams and a small map here .....
http://www.zillertal.at/en/aktuell_livecams.html
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Wow that really does open up the ski area for us. Thanks for your help DB, I appreciate it. How is Vienna by the way? Lucky thing, its my favourite European city! Thanks again.
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Vienna is great. It's not that close to the main ski resorts (most are 4-6 hrs away) but there are quite a few good sized resorts 2-3 hrs away. It's skiing in the winter and Mountain biking in the summer. I work in Vienna city but live outside in the Wienerwald (Vienna Forest), the immediate area has ca 50 mountain bike routes

http://www.tiscover.at/at/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,RGN130626at,season,at2/home.html

Had to make some sacrifices to get here but it's been well worth it.
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I can imagine its well worth it. My husband proposed to me in Vienna so it's a special place for me and we went back a couple of years ago to explore some more. We took the tram to the suburbs and sampled the Heuriger (spelling?), needless to say the tram journey back into Vienna was a long one! The scenery out there was stunning and I can imagine its a really nice place to live - the best of both worlds.

One thing I remember about Vienna is how friendly and helpful everyone was which was refreshing for a capital city.
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Hi just reading about Mayrhofen, we have skiied there for the last 3 years.

For comparison I have also spent time in St Anton, Ishcgl, 3 Valles and Val/Tignes. Skiwise, Mayrhofen has plenty of scope ,but I can't say its got better slopes than these resorts, because it hasn't (although hold its own on reds). But it also hasn't got the sky high prices and many of the other draw backs these larger resorts have.

We just see Mayrhofen as a cool resort, top accomodation, great apres, music etc, and you can do the same sort of piste bashing now there are more connections to Rastkogel/Lannerbach, great 4 hour round ski journey, with plenty of stop offs on route. Always plenty going on, seems popular and sucessful and the pistes are always well maintained.

The off-piste on the Hintertux glacier is still untracked 3 days after fresh snow and on sunny days, one of the best little ski areas (80km) in the world imo and my favourite (top to bottom is about 8/9km and is always skiable on top snow). Gerlos/Konigslieton, out of dutch holidays is quiet, and another super area all jazzed up with new lifts.

It does sound abit biased, but eventually I got cheesed off with paying 6/7 euros a beer and 40pc more for a lift pass, food etc, must be getting old or poorer lol
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Hayls wrote:
Having just returned from a great week in Saalbach I am trying to stave off post holiday blues with research into next year's destination.

As a group, we love Austria, for the village charm, apres ski and cost! We all want a good intermediate area - long red runs with around 200km of piste, a maximum of a 2 hour transfer, tree lined skiing option, all on-piste. We've been to Kitzbuhel, Soll x 2 and Saalbach. I've also been to Gstaad, Zell am Zee and Alagna so would rule all those out.

Can anyone advise on Mayrhofen? St Anton seems very expensive so may have to rule that out. We'd also consider Switzerland. I've never skied France and wasn't too keen on Italy. HELP!


Seeing as you like Austria, and never been to France, means you are destined to always return to Austria and never be interested in France, like everyone else who seems to go for one or the other, and then always be dismissive of the other
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Hayls wrote:
We'd also consider Switzerland. I've never skied France and wasn't too keen on Italy. HELP!


Looks like you need to try a few more places, like France and Italy.

Mayrhofen................... *winces* St Anton ................ *smiles*

For France think Franski (tovarishch).
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A bump of 8 years 2 months and change... is that a record?
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Hayls, Like you we loved Saalbach and went back about 8 times altogether. Then we made the mistake and went to St Anton and got completely hooked. You feel like you're at the home of skiing and the Apres ski just puts the iceing on the cake. Don't worry about the skiing, whatever level you are at there is something for you and I guarantee that you will improve markedly If you stick at it, I know we have. My wife was a timid skier before we went there and really only went because I loved it. After a few trips to St A she has improved soo much and goes down anything in front of her. She can't wait for this January 6th when we go back. St Anton is like crack cocaine try it once and you'll be hooked.
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'St Anton is like crack cocaine!'

Shows how differ. Spent over 8 weeks in St Anton, skiied the lot, Apres'ed the lot too.

Excellent, snowy, busy, pricey, difficult, busy , pricey, snowy busy pricey etc etc.

All depends what your looking for.

Then we tried Mayrhofen.

Much better vibe, cooler girls and much more approachable in Hof.........ok no the high altitude mega skiing of St Anton, but up and down the valley great value and for much of the season, slopes to yourselves........and it matches St Anton on apres at half the price!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try Hintertux, best powder snow in europe imo, or Gerlos, mega quiet out of Dutch holidays and 140km of skiing on modern lifts.
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HAYLS
after 20 yrs skiing i regard Mayrhofen-St.Anton-Saalbach as my fav resorts in that order....so if you liked Saalbach !?
Each is different but will have pretty much all you will need for a good time
Mayrhofen is my fav but if you must ski to the door then you might not agree.....this said you have at least 6 good resorts within 30mins travel mostly by train (Hintertux by lux style coach) all free with pass and always punctual
Personally rarely ski Mayrhofen local slopes as all you read about queues and packed slopes(crazy youths) is pretty spot on but do cruise thru to get to Eggalm for some crowd free sunny slopes
St.Anton is great with lots of regular intermediate skiing...the big-boy stuff is all off-piste so don't be put off ...that said be careful returning to town at the end of the day as its fairly low (1340m)in a steep valley that loses the sun at lunchtime and unless its had a recent dump(of which there are many )is covered in packed icy homemade snow
If you like a bit of apres ! ...St.Anton is similar to Saalbach pricewise. Mayrhofen is significantly cheaper(-25%)
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